


The Puzzle Box of Arkngthand

by TheOneNerevarRing



Series: The Adventure's of Dravel Peragun Part I: The Outlander in Balmora [3]
Category: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-04 02:46:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15832167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOneNerevarRing/pseuds/TheOneNerevarRing
Summary: A re-telling of when Dravel Peragun explored the ruin's of Arkngthand for a puzzle box





	The Puzzle Box of Arkngthand

**Author's Note:**

> I know some people who find this story (Maybe even you) and read the summary may think that this will be a piece of boring garbage, Well i think you'll like what i've done with this quest in Morrowind, I've added some new idea's into it (Though i must admit not a lot) to make it a bit more suitable for writing, So i hope you enjoy this and the next story in this series will come out sometime later this week.

-The following account comes from a document written by an unknown accountant, The date of writing is unknown though it is thought to have been written between 4E 85-4E 100-

The Dwemer or the Dwarves as they are sometime's called in the western part of Tamriel were once a race of Mer or Elves who under mysterious event's disappeared shortly after the Battle of Red Mountain in 1E 700, But even though they no longer existed, Well at least for the most part, Their ruin's and much of their machinery and artifact's survive, And one of the more prized and searched for artifact's is the object known as a Dwemer Puzzle Box, And this came to my attention one day in 3E 426 when i was sent to talk to a Imperial named Hasphat Antabolis to get some notes on the Sixth House, Which at that time was something i had never heard of, I was to do anything he wanted me to do in order to get the notes, And so i did, I walked over to the Balmora Fighter's Guild that day to speak with him, When i approached him, He greeted me with “Ah welcome Dravel, What bring's you to me?”, “I have come to you by the order's of Caius Cosades, I have been told to get some notes on the Sixth House” said I, He then explained to me what he wanted me to do, “The Sixth House huh? Well if you want my trust, I have a job for you to do then, It's a simple task but it might require a little bit of bloodshed, I want you to go to the nearby Dwemer ruin called Arkngthand, If i remember correctly, There was an object there called a Dwemer Puzzle Box there, And i want you to go get it, If you do so, I will give the notes for Caius” “Well....It's probably going to be a more difficult task, May i have the pleasure to think about it for a moment or two?” said i in response, He nodded yes, I then thought about it, I knew it would be a good place to get some money but it could also be a death trap as i've heard they are a target for violent bandit's and smuggler's, However i decided to agree with what he wanted, “Very well, And before you go, I do have two other thing's for you, First while your there i'd like you to get me three or four Dwemer Cog's, A friend of mine want's a few for some experiment's, Plus i've like to give you a guar and cart to carry the cogs back plus any other treasure you wish to keep”, “Well thank you very much! But how much do you want for it?” said i in a cheerful tone, “Nothing, This is a gift for you, As long as you return it back to me when you come back, But if you wish, I can accept a decent offer” said he, “Ok, Will 200 drake's do?” said i in a normal manner, He then stood there thinking about it until he made an answer, “Very well, I can take that, It's now your's, But with that out of the way, You better get going, If you wondering where it is, It's just around the side of the building, Good luck to you Dravel, I wish all the best to you”.

And so i was off, I walked to the guar and cart and rode off, It's one thing about guar's that i like and that is they can pull and carry a lot of weight, The cart itself was pretty basic, It was a box cart with a door and a decent amount of space inside, There was even 2 pull down bench's for possible passenger's, The trip to the ruin was shortened by the help of the guar cart, But it was delayed for a minute when i crossed the bridge, As i did, A Nord stood at the end of the bridge, As i approached he came closer and closer until we met, He then said to me “Hello traveler, If i were you, I'd be careful, There are bandit's on these road's, Matter of fact how about say....50 drakes for a bit of protection?”, I knew from that point on that he was in fact the bandit, This was an old trick that me and my friend's used in the year's before i went to prison, But there was another trick that we used when we were done it to us, And so i did it to him, “Alright then, I'll give you the money, Just one moment please”, And so i made it look like i was going for my gold sack but i was in fact reaching for my sword, I then pushed the sack to the side, Pulled my sword out and i slashed his left cheek, As he fell to the ground in pain and with blood coming out of the wound i spoke to him “Next time you want my money you bastard, Make sure you want it honestly, Or else my sword will be in your skull” With take, I carried on to the ruin's which were just up ahead, But as i rode up the hill, I felt a feeling of doom, And then i heard him say “There won't be a next time for you, But there will for me!”, As he prepared to summon what i believe was to be an Ancestral Ghost, I threw my dagger at him, It landed right in the middle of his neck, Blood gushed out at an extremely fast rate before he finally died, I then walked over to his dead body and grabbed my dagger, I then continued riding to the ruin, The ruin was much larger than i expected, The tower's reached high into the sky with statues of the Dwarven people on the side's, I had always wondered why they disappeared at the time, I would find out later why but for then, It was a complete mystery to me.

Now that i was here it was time to find the entrance, I searched for one but alas i could not, That was until i discovered a sideways dome with engraving's on it, I then guessed that this was the door, I also saw a crank on a pipe just a few step's away from it, I turned it but it would'nt budge, But then as i walked away in frustration, I noticed that the crank began to turn itself, This was very odd indeed and even now over a hundred year's after that moment, I still don't know what happened then, But as a rough guess, It was a motorized steam crank, After the dome opened, I saw the door's and even though these ruin's could have been over 3500 years old, They looked great, Which mean't this ruin had'nt been touched very much or at all, But as i went inside, It was clear this place had been visited, The way down to the main ruin was quite steep, There were no stairs, No ramps or any downhill walking path at all, The only thing for step's the place had was a set of boulder's that went down slowly, And i walked down it with much caution as the slightest wrong doing could have mean't certain death.

As i reached the bottom, I saw something move at the corner of my left eye, I then ducked behind to make sure i was'nt noticed, I had heard that these Dwemer ruin's still had mechanical spider's and other beast's lurking around, As it came into sight, I realized this was'nt a spider, Nor was a machine, It was a Redguard which mean't this place had been occupied, As i tried to approach him, He noticed me by the sound's of my footstep's, Almost immediately after he said to me “What are you doing in here? This is a private ruin! And you know what happens when someone step's onto a private ruin with no allowance? They die!”, At that moment he charged at me with his broadsword at hand, And we fought for about two or three minute's, The fight was to be honest like any other, He swung and i did, Then a miss and a thrust, But it did come to an end after he tried to charge at me again and i moved before he hit me and so he landed in the wall, I then simply stabbed him in the back to end the fight, After that minor delay ended i continued with my search, And for the better part of the next two or three hour's i explored the ruin, It was a beautiful ruin with many room's, corridor's and passages, There were control room's for the mechanical object's, Bedroom's with intact frames and mat's, A kitchen with a stove in the Dwemer style, And a storage room, Most of the room's though were guarded by bandit's, All of which were killed, But after searching for a while, I discovered a room which was hidden from sight, It was above the main room of which i entered, And that is where i found the puzzle box, It was a small, square but nice box with engraving's on all six side's, But i did take some other item's while i was there, I took some Dwemer cup's, mug's, bowl's and coin's, Plus a few plan's and scroll's which contained in them many marking's of strange creature's and of course the Dwemer themselves, I decided i would study them over when i returned home, Finally i gathered many cog's, Even though i was only supposed to take three or four of them, I decided to take a few for myself and even more for selling, Even though these ruin's were considered property of the Empire, I did'nt care, And i had no true plan's to be apart of the Imperial Empire, And so in total i took fifteen cog's, They were very heavy, Each of the cog's weighted about 5 or 10 pound's each, But the guar handled it.

After packing the item's onto the cart, I rode off back to Balmora, It was now dusk considering i had come here sometime in the 15th hour of the day, As i rode back i could'nt help but notice the body of the bridge bandit i had killed earlier that day, I decided to not get rid of his body, I bet the Nix-Hound's and worm's will have a nice feast on him, As i came to the crossroad's, I made sure guard's did'nt see what i was carrying, Luckily since it was box cart, No one coud see inside unless the shutter's were open of which they were not, About a half an hour later i made it back to Balmora, As i rode in, I saw the crazy one walking near the exit, He did glance at he and also mumbled something to himself but otherwise, He did'nt say anything, I did wonder what he name was and so i asked one of the local's in the area, The one i asked was a fellow Dunmer named Uvisara Aretoth, She replied with “Why him? His name is Llandras Belaal, He's been like that now for a few week's, He probably contracted a blight disease and got it cured when it was too late, That's one of the thing's about blight, If you get it cured early, You'll be perfectly fine in a day or two, But if you leave it for too long before getting cured, You either die or go insane, So just ignore him next time”, And with that, I thanked her and moved on, I stopped at the place where i left and tied it to the post, I took the puzzle box into the Fighter's Guild and gave it to Hasphat, He was very pleased with it and gave thank's to me before giving me the notes on the Sixth House, I also gave him the cog's he wanted, Again he gave his thank's, As i left i read the note's he gave me and they said the following:

-House Dagoth is the extinct Sixth Great House of Morrowind. In the wake of the ancient Battle of Red Mountain in 1E 700, Its leadership was revealed to have plotted treason, and was discredited. Many of House Dagoth died defending the House The survivors of the battle who were faithful to the Great Council were redistributed among the other houses. The Temple says that ancient, legendary evil beings that dwell beneath the heart of Red Mountain in the Dagoth Ur region are the original leaders of this extinct house, sustained by some powerful, evil sorceries-

The note's were very interesting to read and i decided that before i gave them to Caius, I would make a copy of the note's for personal reading, Plus at the end of the page, It mention's 4 book's that give more detail to what happened, The four book's said were The War Of The First Council, Saint Nerevar, Nerevar Moon-And-Star and The Rear Nerevar, All of which could be bought at the local bookseller, But the book's were probably quite expensive, But i considered that i'd probably come across them during my travel's at some point, And so with that done, I unpacked everything i got inside, In total i got 3 Dwemer Goblet's, 2 Dwemer Mug's, 3 Dwemer Bowl's, 28 coin's, 4 scroll's and 2 set's of what appeared to be plan's of some sort, Along with that i also have eleven cog's, Of which i kept two and sold the rest, In total i managed to get about 600 drake's for them, After all that, I gave the note's to Caius, “Very good Dravel, You'll done well, I'll be looking over these note's now for the rest of the night, Then tomorrow, I might have another job for you, But for now you look pretty tired so have a nice hot meal and some rest, I'll see you tomorrow my new friend, Good night”, “Good night Caius” said i as i left his house, And so i returned home and had a meal of Saltrice, Scuttle and Scrib Cabbage soup, Then had a nice drink of Mead in one of the Dwemer Goblet's i got, I also looked over the scroll's and plan's i had found, They were very interesting and unique to look at, The one plan showed what appeared to be an airship of some kind, And the other was simply extra plan's to the other, The scroll's however were much, much different, They appeared to be stories written in what i suspected to be Dwemeri along with drawing's showing the Dwemer and other object's, I did'nt know what it said though as at the time, I had thought that there were no living Dwemer, Though i would find out later that was'nt the case.


End file.
